First Finish of 2010

This post is hard to start. Yesterday I had my first finish of the year. It was a special piece in memory of a special little girl named Layla Grace. I stitched a quilt block for a quilt that I heard about at the Isaiah 43:1 Project, a site that I found just recently. Candace of Cotton Candie Fabric came up with the idea to make some quilts for her family. Layla Grace is a little girl who lost her battle with cancer last week. You can read more about her and her family here. I decided to make a block with some fabric that I had picked up just last weekend when I was at my local quilt shop, What's Your Stitch N Stuff. I picked it up because I realized I didn't have any spring or Easter fabric in my stash. I think it was perfect for the quilt block. I found a floral alphabet to use to stitch the word "Hope" on the block. Hope for a cure and hope for healing for this family.

Design: From 101 Alphabets by Dale Burdett

Fabric: 28 ct Luguna Fairy Dust

Threads: DMC

Mom - if you're reading this and you haven't gotten a box of tissues yet, you might want to.

Part of the reason I wanted to make this quilt square is that Layla's story really touched my heart. I'm no stranger to pediatric cancer. My little girl is named after a friend that I lost to cancer. That is how my husband and I chose her middle name. I'd known Emily my entire life ... her family lived next door to ours when I was born. Her birthday was just two days before my own (she was a year older). Our families vacationed together often. Both families had two girls ... Emily had an older sister and I a younger sister. My sister was the odd one out in the four of us since the three of us had birthdays in July and hers was in December. My family moved around quite a bit when I was younger. We kept in touch with Emily's family though and when we moved back to the area we got together a lot. Emily's family even lived with us for a few months after their house was damaged in a hurricane. We moved away again and then ended up living near each other again when my father left active duty (in a different state than we were born in). It was soon after we moved that Emily was diagnosed with cancer (I think she was 11 at the time). She fought a hard battle. I remember when she lost her hair to chemo her sophomore year in high school, her sister shaved her head as well so that she would have to go to school bald alone. Unfortunately she lost her battle with cancer later that year. It was very hard to lose a friend that I had known my entire life at the tender age of 14. Whenever I hear about pediatric cancer, I think of her. Her memory was one of the main reasons I wanted to help make this quilt(s) for Layla Grace's family. I hope that it will help to bring healing to the open wounds that they have. There will always be scars ... I know that. Please pray for all children who are affected by cancer and their families.

Where I've Been

On Jan 7, my husband and I welcomed the newest addition to our family. She has already brought such joy to our lives ... though the only stitching that I have really done since she arrived is putting her name on her birth sampler (I still need to finish the backstitch and the rest of the personalization).

Caitlyn Emily

Hopefully I will be getting some more time to stitch soon. God Bless!

Happy New Year

Hope everyone has had a wonderful 2009 and here's to 2010. I did have one more finish for 09 ... I finished the first ornament "Fa La La" for the LHN SAL. I received "Pear Tree" this week so that will probably be my next start. I've put a few more stitches in my stocking as well. I've had a fairly productive year ... but I do believe that I still have quite a few projects to finish finish. I don't have that many WIPs at the moment (I think two) and have some projects that I do want to start next year for birthdays and such. We'll see how it goes with the little one around.

Here's was my second to last finish for the year ... an ornament for an exchange. I hope you enjoy.

"Snow Cottage"

Designer: Cross Wise Designs

Fabric: Unknown linen from ornament pack

Thread: DMC White and Krienik pearl

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Go Navy!

We interrupt our regular scheduled programing to say

Go Navy! Beat Army!

Today I will be watching the game with friends from work. Nothing like one of the best rivalries in college football :). I know they are a long way from being national contenders (there have been years where the Army-Navy game was between the #1 and #2 teams in the nation ... but that was way before the BCS and all that jazz) but it is full of great pageantry and often a really great game. I'll go back to regularly scheduled stitching soon ... I have some ornaments and progress to share. Have a great day!

Christmas stitching

Well, I have been able to get some good stitching time in, so I've been focusing mostly on some Christmas stitching (since it's that time of year). First up is a piece that I wanted to finish for the Advent season ... I've picked up some coordinating fabric and just need to complete it in a finished form (maybe I'll work on that today).

Design: "Lights of Advent"

Designer: Erica Michaels (from JCS Ornaments 06)

Fabric: Unknown ornament cut from DSL

Threads: Recommended DMC

I've also been working on LHN's "Fa-La-La", the first ornament in their monthly ornament series. I don't have a progress picture but will post once I finish it. I decided to stitch it over 1 ... which has been an interesting experience. On Tuesday I finally pulled out the fabric and pattern to start my Christmas stocking. Here's what I had at the end of Friday night:

And this is all the work that I did on Saturday, while watching football and a Christmas movie (and doing other chores around the house):
I am really enjoying this piece. This one is Joan Elliot's Christmas Angel Stocking from the Aug 06 issue of the Cross Stitcher. Hopefully she won't take me as long as the first one (she shouldn't if I don't put her aside for months on end).

I'm enjoying the weather today much more than the rain we had yesterday (it was a little too warm for it to turn to snow here). Today is blue sky with white clouds, a bit chilly but not too bad. I think I might wrap presents today and maybe do some baking to send to family and friends that are deployed for the holiday season. I'm going to do a bit more stitching as well. Have a wonderful day!

Thanksgiving

As I sit here in the quiet, up before others are moving around or have arrived, I am taking some time to reflect on today. I love this quiet time in the morning before everything starts to get hectic. Especially today, a day set aside to give thanks for the blessings that we have. However, giving thanks shouldn't be restrained to one day or just remembered for one day. We should continually give thanks in all that we do.

For the past week or so, I have been putting something I'm thankful up daily as my status on Facebook. I have tried to expound on those things. Today I give thanks to God that both my husband and I are home for Thanksgiving rather than half way around the world like last year. I am thankful that both sets of parents live close enough to come down for the weekend. I rejoice that we are able to share the cooking responsibilities with parents and other relatives. I am thankful that my parents are coming for Thanksgiving since I haven't spent a Thanksgiving with them in 5 years. I give thanks that we are able to open our home to my husband's sailors that don't have a place to go for the holiday. I'm grateful for the weather that we've had ... even though it's been rainy and cloudy it hasn't been too cold. I give thanks that our preparations for our new arrival continue to go on pace. I can't believe how close it is getting to her arriving.

We give thanks in all situations. No matter what trials are going on in your life, there are always some small blessings to be thankful for. Sometimes it's hard to find those blessings, but if you search hard enough, they'll be there. I pray that you all have a wonderful day and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate :) God Bless.

Happy Dance!!!!

This has been a great weekend for finishing :). I finally finished DH's Christmas stocking ... it only took me 2 years and 2 months. Hopefully the next ones will go faster (since there were long stretches of time without stitching on the stocking. I had a lot of fun stitching it and am looking forward to the next one. I am going to wait to finish finish it until I at least get mine done as well so that I am doing more than one at a time (and there isn't a huge time in between finishes).

Design: "Gingerbread Stocking"

Designer: Joan Elliot (The Cross Stitcher - Aug 05)

Fabric: 14 ct White Aida

Thread: Recommended DMC, Kreinik and beads

I also finished my "whet your appetite" ornament for the Little House Ornament SAL. I plan on finishing this as a pillow ornament. It was a fun stitch and now I'm just waiting for the first ornament of LHN's new series to arrive since I believe it has been shipped.

Design: "Glory to God"

Designer: Little House Needleworks (JCS Ornament 08)

Fabric: Stash Linen (count and color unknown)

Threads: Recommended and DMC alternatives

I also finished my SWO pin to go with hubby's dolphins. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture before I took it into my LNS to get framed. So I will share a picture when I get it back. I haven't quite finished the next project, but am to the point where I'm working on the backstitch. This one won't be finished until I can personalize it with little one's information so it will probably be one of my first 2010 finishes. I plan on getting everything but the personalization done in the next few weeks. So here's my current progress on the Classic Winnie the Pooh sampler.

Since I finished up my other ornament, I was inspired to start another. I decided to start stitching Erica Michael's "Lights of Advent" from the 2006 JCS Ornament issue. This was as far as I got since I need to pick up the other DMC colors needed to stitch the ornament.

Since I didn't have the threads needed to finish, I spent the rest of this evening working on a wedding present (which I don't have any pictures to share of). I decided to put it on my scroll frame since I've taken the stocking off. So that's it for my stitching ... it feels good to get some of those long UFO finally finished. Hope you had a great Sunday!